Islamic leaders on the Gold Coast believe they have opened Australia's first drive-through takeaway food service for Muslims observing the month Ramadan.

The only person to lose a home when bushfires swept through a Sunshine Coast beachside suburb last year is finally seeing it rebuilt.

First-time mayors and councillors who are the subject of minor misconduct complaints will get a three-month amnesty, Queensland's Office of the Independent Assessor says.

Police charge Latrell Mitchell and Josh Addo-Carr with firearms offences after a weekend getaway as the NRL fines the pair and two other players for "putting the game and community at risk".

As bushfire victims work to rebuild their lives after the devastating Australian summer, a group of quilters is stitching together beautiful handmade squares from around the world to offer a gift that is like a "nice warm hug".

After a frustrating wait, the bushfire clean-up effort is set to ramp up in South East NSW with around 300 properties to be cleared each week.

Veronica Coen and Ruth Haggar make one final sift through the ruins of their Quaama homes before the first stage of the bushfire clean-up begins.

The number of positive coronavirus diagnoses have fallen dramatically since the end of March.

The Australian Red Cross and Salvation Army have so far paid out fewer than half the donations they received to help Black Summer bushfire victims — with one charity claiming it's had to sift through more than 1,000 fraudulent claims.

In the five months since her house was destroyed, Tod Adams has been at war with government agencies because the Fires Near Me app suggests her home was not affected.

A court hears the NSW Rural Fire Service may ask the state's Attorney-General to relax restrictions so it can distribute the $51.3 million raised by comedian Celeste Barber to help victims of the Black Summer bushfires.

Over $340,000 raised by celebrity bushfire relief concert Fire Aid 2020 is being pre-loaded onto EFTPOS cards linked to local businesses, tackling two disasters with one innovative idea.

The second installment in the futuristic series follows a similar path to the first film, but interesting characters, impressive design and a terrific turn from Jennifer Lawrence

Australia's first liquid natural gas import terminal will be built at Port Kembla, south of Sydney, with hopes it will secure thousands of jobs and meet the bulk of the state's gas needs.

A Chinese mining giant is being accused of underestimating the impact a proposed open cut mine will have on groundwater on the New South Wales Liverpool Plains.

A Tamworth teacher has developed the first Australian curriculum exploring regenerative agriculture.

The NSW Rural Fire Service says there are 65 bush and grass fires burning across the state, but no emergency warnings are in place. Six fires have been downgraded to watch and act or advice status after spending much of the day as emergencies due to dry and windy conditions.

Two dangerous fires near Tenterfield and Armidale are downgraded as firefighters keep properties out of danger, but the dwindling water supply and expected strong winds will make today challenging.

With dams and creeks bone dry in drought-stricken towns, firefighters are being forced to find ways to combat blazes that are almost impossible to extinguish.

Ten years ago Chris Roby sought help from the Salvos for crippling alcoholism; he's now leading a group of men fighting addiction to help their local community's response to bushfires.

A bushfire threatening homes at Drake, near Tenterfield, is downgraded as the threat to houses eases.

An emergency warning has been issued for a blaze burning at Sandy Creek, east of Armidale, which has closed roads and is threatening several properties where residents have been told it is "too late to leave".

An emergency warning is downgraded in northern NSW after an "unpredictable and fast-moving" grass fire had threatened homes, with embers to blowing up to 4 kilometres ahead of the fire front.

Business owners in Tenterfield say tourists will be the key to the rural town's recovery, as bushfires and drought take their toll on the local economy.

MORNING BRIEFING: The Rural Fire Service says it will begin assessing the full extent of the bushfire damage in northern New South Wales today, and a man is charged after a robbery in 2003.

The remains of a 77-year-old man and a 68-year-old woman are found on a property destroyed in the bushfires which ripped through northern NSW earlier this week.

A man is charged with two counts of murder after a woman and a young boy are found dead in a Tamworth house fire that police believe was deliberately lit. Two other people are in hospital with burns.

Free sheds are being built for those with nothing, in a creative approach to disaster recovery that is changing lives and putting a smile back on faces of despair.

Almost bone-dry from drought and having endured four major bushfires this year, Tenterfield was due for a break. That came in spades when the town found a new water supply.

Authorities say two children are confirmed amongst the latest coronavirus cases in Tasmania, as the Government confirms it will refund public school levies, freeze water prices and cap electricity prices as part of the COVID-19 pandemic response.

Ella Ross and Thomas Edwards were all set to buy land in southern Tasmania and build their first home until coronavirus put a hold on their plans when they were told their casual work "could not be counted".

Tasmania records its first coronavirus death after a woman in her 80s dies in hospital in the state's north-west, with the state's case tally rising by three to 69.

Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein has announced the state's first coronavirus related death.

Aged care facilities in all Australian states have recorded infections of COVID-19, with four new nursing homes recording cases in the last two days.

Four new cases of coronavirus are confirmed in Tasmania, taking the state's total to 86, after Burnie's hospital shuts two wards to new admissions following staff becoming infected.

Authorities reveal eight of the nine new cases of coronavirus confirmed in Tasmania are linked to the North West Regional Hospital, as the state records its third death.

Tasmania records another four cases of coronavirus, all in the state's north-west hotspot, after Premier Peter Gutwein warned of a statewide Easter police "blitz" and an "effective lockdown" in the north-west.

A Tasmanian farmer's suggestion that people make champagne with their surplus rhubarb draws a legal warning from the French.

A Tasmanian woman in her 70s has died of coronavirus, taking the state's death toll to five, as 11 more cases are diagnosed in the north-west.

A 72-year-old man becomes the seventh Tasmanian to succumb to coronavirus, as four more cases are confirmed in the north-west. It comes as the emergency department of a hospital at the centre of a coronavirus outbreak reopens.

The number of coronavirus cases associated with an outbreak in Tasmania's north-west is "trailing off", the state's director of public health says, with additional retail restrictions in place in the region due to be lifted on Sunday night.

AgQuip will not run in August, as it has done since 1973, due to the coronavirus pandemic, with organisers flagging November for the event which usually attracts about 100,000 people to north-west NSW.

Another elderly person dies from coronavirus in Tasmania's north-west, the state's third death announced in three days, as four new cases are confirmed on Sunday night.

An elderly woman becomes the 13th Tasmanian to succumb to coronavirus as the Government rules out an easing of state restrictions.

You never forget your first car and it seems some of us wish we never let it go, including this 92-year-old who bought back his first Chevrolet and restored it.

Fire crews prevent a gas explosion and save neighbouring homes from a blaze that killed an 82-year-old man and his dog at Mount Burr in South Australia's South East.

Police investigate the cause of a bushfire that came dangerously close to a Loxton aged care facility in South Australia's Riverland, prompting an evacuation overnight.